Just My Imagination
by carissima
Summary: Set after the S3 finale. Brooke finds herself by the River Court, and someone she doesn't expect comes back to give her the help she desperately needs.


She'd thought she was past running away from her problems. Or, more specifically, from Lucas Scott. This made it number three, unless she was mistaken. The first time, his fault. The second time, kinda her fault, but mostly his fault. This time, though, she wasn't sure whose fault it was. Or even if it was anyone's fault at all. Maybe Peyton. Definitely Peyton.

But running away wasn't the only recurring event in her life. Apparently, God hated her. Or at least, medicine did. Once again, she was sitting at the River Court, imagining her three possible futures. In one, she was a lonely, middle-aged woman who never trusted any man with her heart ever again, living in the past and mourning everything that she'd lost. Or thrown away. In the second, she was a lonely, middle-aged woman who never trusted any man with her heart ever again, waiting for the knock or the phone call that would inevitably shake her world. In the third, she was a prematurely old clerk, working for some crappy store, and struggling to afford the one-bedroom apartment she lived in whilst she put her child through college.

Because, yes, once again, she'd had a pregnancy scare. Except, this one was a hell of a lot scarier, because there was no mistake. No magical cure. There really was a child growing inside her belly. And she'd never been more scared in her entire life.

"You look miserable."

Today officially sucked.

"What are you doing back in town?" she asked, without turning to look at him.

"I figured you'd all be missing me by now," Chris drawled, his arrogant voice grating on her already fragile nerves.

"Like the proverbial hole in the head," Brooke muttered.

"Aw, don't be like that, Davis," he chided as he took a seat next to her. "I believe that our little rendezvous last time we met led to you and Lukey sorting out all your pathetic issues and living happily ever after."

"Ever after is a little shorter than I thought it was," she murmured.

"You and the golden boy fighting?" Chris asked as he took out his guitar and started to strum idly.

"Not so much fighting as never speaking to each other ever again," she said bitterly.

"Anything to do with Goldilocks?" he asked.

"When exactly did I become predictable?" Brooke groaned.

"Probably about the same time that Haley decided she'd rather be a boring housewife than follow her dreams and fulfil her talent," Chris mocked.

"She and Nathan just renewed their vows," Brooke said idly.

"That was kinda why I'm back in town," Chris said as his fingers flew across the strings in a light, cheerful tune. "Nathan sent me an invite, but it took a while to find me."

"Nathan sent you an invite to his and Haley's second wedding?" Brooke asked, her raised eyebrows testament to her disbelief.

"I told you, I'm a regular guardian angel to this town," Chris grinned.

"I think you meant to say devil incarnate," Brooke returned.

"Let's not resort to name calling," Chris scolded her.

"If we're not going to insult each other, then we have nothing to say," Brooke said pointedly.

"That's no way to talk to your ex-lover," Chris said reproachfully. "I've seen you naked, Davis. I've been as intimate with you as you can be, in the biblical sense, of course. And I didn't hear any complaints at the time."

"You want to hear them now? Because I'm more than happy to oblige," Brooke returned sweetly.

"There's no need to take your anger at the golden twosome out on me," he said, faking wounded. "Just think of me as the kind stranger you can talk to."

Sighing, Brooke rolled her eyes. "You know what's really depressing? With Haley on her honeymoon, you're probably the most knowledgeable about our little incestuous group."

"I believe we're all just waiting for the day that Nathan leaves Haley for you and a broken-hearted Haley turns to her best friend for comfort, and then you've completed the set," Chris teased.

"That's … disturbing," Brooke muttered.

"So come on, hit me with it," Chris goaded. "You know I don't really care, and I'll be out of here as soon as the next bus arrives, since I missed the festivities. It can't hurt."

"I'm pregnant," Brooke blurted. Her eyes widened and she clapped her hand over her mouth, but it was too late. The words were out there. They'd been spoken. It was real.

"Is it Luke's?" Chris asked, his fingers pausing on the guitar strings. If he was surprised, he hid it well.

"Of course it is," she yelled, swiping at his arm. "There is no way in hell that it's yours."

"Brooke …" Chris tailed off, and he seemed to be stuck for words. It was a sight to behold.

"It can't be yours, okay?" Brooke muttered, almost to herself. "Life is pretty crappy, but it can't be that sadistic."

Chris started to strum again, his fingers trembling and the notes slightly off.

"What are you gonna do?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, miserably.

"How far along are you?" he asked quietly.

"Three months," Brooke admitted, as a tear slid down her cheek.

"Then how can you be sure it's not mine?" Chris asked.

"Because I don't want it to be," Brooke whispered. "I don't want it to be anyone's baby. I just want it to all go away."

They sat in silence, Brooke swiping at the never-ending tears travelling down her face, and Chris strumming quietly on his guitar, both of them lost in thought.

"I'm sure glad I came back for the wedding," Chris said dryly.

"You have nothing to worry about, Keller," Brooke said quietly. "You can just get on that bus and go back to whatever it is that you were doing, and forget about this town and everyone in it."

"Because I'm a cold-hearted creep who seduces drunk girls into bed?" Chris asked, his voice hard.

"No," Brooke disagreed. "Because you can. You can leave, without a care in the world. I'm giving you that."

"What if I don't want that?" Chris asked.

"Why on earth wouldn't you?" she asked, laughing cynically.

"We barely know each other, Brooke," he said softly. "And, yes, I'm a bastard. But that's not all I am. And that's not what I want my kid to be."

"If it's your kid," Brooke murmured.

"So you're not ruling out that it's mine?" Chris asked.

"No," she sighed. "I just … feel so lost. And alone."

Chris didn't reply, but kept on strumming.

Staring out across the court, Brooke felt a little better after her confession, although coming face to face with Chris Keller after the week from hell, and breaking up with both Peyton and Lucas wasn't exactly the best thing that'd ever happened to her.

"Are you playing a lullaby?" she suddenly asked, spinning around to face him for the first time.

Chris shrugged, and carried on playing the tune she recognised from some kids movie.

"I don't think I can get an abortion," Brooke whispered, the word torn out of her.

Chris halted momentarily before strumming a little slower. "That leaves adoption or raising it yourself."

"How did I become a statistic?" Brooke asked him. "I can't raise a baby! I'm still a child myself! I'm still in school. I haven't even graduated yet! I've never had a real job, except for that one day at the Crab Shack, and I've never lived away from home!"

"The Crab Shack?" Chris asked, a smirk on his face.

"Why on earth did I ever think I could talk to you about this?" Brooke raged. "This is the single most important decision I'll ever make, about a life that's growing inside of me, I don't even know who the father is for sure, and I just dumped my boyfriend because my best friend is in love with him and I can't trust either of them! My parents will probably disown me, and I'll end up in a pokey, one-bedroom apartment, working at Sac-n-Pac, with a crying baby on my hip and I'll be on my own forever, but hey, let's giggle because Brooke said Crab Shack!"

Jumping up, she started storming away from Chris and his stupid guitar and his stupid lullaby. And she'd thought it was so cute, when she'd realised he was playing a lullaby for his possible future child! What an idiot she was.

She'd made it ten feet before she felt a hand snake gently around her arm and stop her, before turning her around and suddenly she was in a place that she never thought she'd ever be, in a million years.

Chris Keller's arms.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, her mind swirling with endless horrible scenarios and feeling like her world was ending, she wrapped her arms around his waist and cried harder, barely registering that he was stroking her hair and whispering something in a soothing voice.

And she felt better than she had in a long time. No, she barely registered that.


End file.
